I NEED A SEASON TWO LIKE YESTERDAY

I honestly love them all so much and I can’t wait to start reading the books just to see more of the world. Netflix better fucking renew it.

Listen, book!Lockwood who is so repressed that it just translates to beaming smiles has a special place in my heart, but at the same time I cannot stress how much I appreciate the live action series for showing us unbelievably exhausted Lockwood who’s so obviously scared that Lucy and George will eventually leave (willingly or otherwise) but still has the gall to push them away. My boy was barely pulling it together. And ofc he would be so tired that the bags under his eyes are so prominent because we’re outside of Lucy’s POV now. Lucy who’s always had rose-colored glasses when it comes to him.

Speaking of Lucy, I really do love how she calls him out. She’s so aggressive with her love. It’s like she’s demanding that George and her will love and care for him and there’s absolutely nothing Lockwood can do about it so he just better shut up and take it. Peak found family right there.

How that scene where Lockwood comes to apologize to Lucy in the kitchen had so much ‘husband in the doghouse’ vibes, and how ultimately what Lucy is really mad about is just her wanting Lockwood to value his life more. And for Lockwood to outright admit that yeah he was a bit suicidal but it’s a bit like he found a new reason for living because of Lucy and George, again I say PEAK FOUND FAMILY, this is my jam. The ease of which Lucy being Lucy calms him down. (Ugh, again the domesticity of choosing egg cups). He can’t stand when she’s mad at him and he learns about apologizing properly this time around, but when she wordlessly forgives him, you can see on his face how he could fall so quickly and deeply in love with her. That’s one thing I love so much about the live action series. While the book showed us more of Lucy’s feelings for Lockwood, I actually think the series highlights Lockwood’s feelings more in that if I hadn’t read the books beforehand, I could have easily seen it as Lockwood falling first. His abandonment issues are so prominent in the series and while they play it with humor with Fittes and Kipps, you can just see that desperation behind the lighthearted tone, and for Lucy to say that she chooses Lockwood and George anyway….!

This is basically an excuse to ramble about the little things they add in the series that I love so much, which works because we’re not restricted to Lucy’s POV, in no particular order:

How Flo can immediately see how Lockwood feels about Lucy because of the effect she has on him. Prior to that statement, she’d only met Lucy once before, but that brief meeting told her everything she needed to know. She probably knew Lockwood in the aftermath of his family’s death, so for her to see Lockwood just buttering someone’s else toast for them and being all domestic and smiley, treating another person like a family member especially considering how guarded he is, she must have thought (and rightly so) that meeting Lucy made him have an appetite for life again.

We actually get to see Fittes’ and Lockwood’s side of the fight! And it was awesome. “I’m Anthony bloody Lockwood.” I can no longer remember if that line was in the book or not but idc I love it.

George and Lucy’s scene was in the book, but the acting in the series just really sold it for me. How Lucy’s heart just broke hearing George talk about himself, especially everything he said then were feelings I’m sure she’s also had about herself. I seriously loved that last episode. George and Lucy were adorable. Again I say, found family ftw.

The rise of the Flo x George ship! “You, me, and herons!” Again I say, adorable.

There are some elements that work better in book format, but in many ways the tv series really did elevate this beloved book series. It was a wonderful, wonderful adaptation. As a reader, I couldn’t be more satisfied. As a shipper, I couldn’t be more ecstatic.

„Inside job“ might easily be one of my favorite Leverage episode so far because it has „found family“ written all over it, from Nate cooking to Sophie teasing to the entire team going full on deadly-serious in order to get Parker back out.

Not to mention that Parker, team AND Archie point out that the team is Parker‘s real family

Another day watching The Future Job, another day screaming and crying about how whenever Parker gets freaked out she goes home. Not to her big secret warehouse where she can be alone but straight to HQ or wherever the crew will be because that's where she's safe, that's home.

Kuroko no Basket will always have a special place in my heart, and this is one of the reasons why:

Her. Aida Riko. Everything about her makes KnB the best sports anime to me.

No, 'cuz the fact that this beloved sports anime made the coach of the main team a woman - a 17 year old girl at that - made a huge difference in the show for me. It's such a pleasure to watch Riko have just as much passion for the game as the team, for her to be such a key character in an otherwise widely male-dominated anime genre.

She makes sure to push the team to improve, doing everything in her power to make make them go past their limits (the roofrop ceremony, breaking Hyuuga's figurines, getting Mitobe to block Kagami etc), she always makes sure to get their spirits up, even if it doesn't always work out (getting them to go eat steaks, the lemon with honey slices), and she does what's best for them, even when they don't like it (pulling Kiyoshi from the Kirisaki Daiichi game, subbing the first year duo out, putting Furihata against Akashi).

Like, she's such a smart and relatable and real character??? The fact that she also gets her romance with Hyuuga, but is done so organically, and they're such good friends?? The fact that they rely on each other as coach and captain?? The fact that they founded the club together?? Plus, she is still able to have a deep friendship with Kiyoshi with no romantic tension or friction between the three of them?? It shouldn't be this refreshing to see a female character like this, but it is, which is what makes Riko so amazing.

And she's not the only one.

Momoi is also such a great female character that you rarely see in these shows. Yes, she's the feminine manager of an enemy team, but she's just as much part of the Generation of Miracles friend group as the others are, despite not being a player. The fact that she gathers information about their opponents and comes up with strategies to highlight her team's strengths and shut down the enemies is incredible. She also has a crush on the main character that is obviously unrequited, yet it's handled so gracefully?? She is who she is despite her feelings for Kuroko, and I love that for her, because instead of following Kuroko to Seirin, she chose to stay with Aomine. Her loyalty to her childhood friend is so strong and so pure that she never gave up hope that Aomine would find his love for basketball again. That he'd smile again– that she'd get her old friends back.

Truly amazing.

And an honorary mention goes to another female character whom I wanted to see more of:

"Kagami was written by a woman," yes, because Alex Garcia made Kagami, bitch. That's her son you're talking about. Alex being the one who taught Kagami basketball is so badass of her. She's Mother.

Let's hear if for the female characters of Kuroko no Basket!!! The rest of the sports anime world could never!!!

Okay but think of the comedic potential of the Leverage OT3 having been together for years by the time of Redemption, and at one point the others find out.

Breanna would be like "oh my god how did I not see that". Sophie would go "oh that explains a lot of things". (And yeah, it would also be on board for her to know, but one, it's been established that unconventional relationships are kind of a blind spot for her, and two, Parker is weird enough and Eliot's act is good enough that it would help throw her off the scent.)

(Harry wouldn't care much probably.)

And the possibilities of how it could happen. Like. Hardison is up in space, Eliot and Parker are doing something for a con, they see someone coming, Parker is like "quick, let's make out", and throws herself on Eliot. Eliot is like "no, not the lips", but he goes along with it, and then when they're in the clear, he's like "why do you always bite my lips? you didn't have to bite my lips", to which Parker replies "I was playing a character. Clara is a lip biter", and Eliot goes on an angry rant about the whole thing, but also the others overhear it, and Breanna checks in like "Eliot always says it? how often do you guys make out on cons?" and Parker goes "Eliot's not talking about the cons."

OR Parker is upset by something, and leaves the room, and Eliot goes after her, and when he doesn't resurface for a while Breanna goes after him, and they're kissing, and Eliot shouts at her to get out, but she's like "Okay. This is not cool. Eliot, you're super scary and I can see you're pissed at me right now, but I gotta call Hardison," and they're both like no, you don't have to do that, but he's already on call, and Breanna tells him everything. Eliot is facepalming and sighing the whole time. Parker is just like "what? they had to find out eventually." And then Breanna finishes, everyone is dead silent, waiting for his reaction, and Hardison is like "So y'all wasted my time with this? [five-minute rant about how busy he is]" Breanna is flabbergasted. "So Eliot makes out with your girlfriend and that's your reaction?" So Hardison just goes "Damn sis I better damn hope that when my girlfriend is upset our boyfriend would go and comfort him. Get yo act together." He hangs up, camera cuts to Breana, her face frozen while trying to process the information. Then she just goes "HOLY SH-" [commercial break]

That moment in episode 6 where Grover asks “Are we late because of me” Percy doesn’t answer immediately he pauses and he looks like he’s thinking and guys what if he’s thinking about the prophecy and for this brief moment he’s wondering if Grover did this on purpose cuz they did miss the deadline, they did get late, they failed the quest.

And he took Grover cuz he trusted him but now he likes annabeth too, he cares about her too.

And the thought of twelve year old Percy, the weight of the world on his shoulders, worried about his mom, lying awake at night, replaying the prophecy, wondering who it might be. Wondering who he wants it to be, who would hurt less and not knowing because they’re his friends, they both are, how could he pick.

I could cry.

you ever just think about how the leverage writers gave us a canon polyamorous relationship confirmation in the long goodbye job?

like, they didn’t have to go that hard

but they did

parker, hardison and eliot are seen as a unit, working together in sync. there are callbacks to the pilot episode multiple times that are centered around their interactions.

and then there’s the “death” scene: aka, the scene that proves just how ride or die they are for each other. they die in each other’s arms. they die holding hands. what’s even more- the two in a canon established relationship are not the ones holding hands. no- instead, it is eliot who is in the middle. eliot, their hitter, their protector, their best friend. he was the one that was in the middle, holding hands with hardison and then parker. he is the one that reaches out and grabs hardison’s hand, reassuring him one last time and referencing an inside joke. parker then makes a point to move and grab eliot’s hand in her own- her literal last act before dying. you CANNOT tell me that is anything but pure, unadulterated love. they lived together. they breathed together. they died together.

AND THEN, as if that wasn’t enough, we had this scene in the final minutes of the show:

sophie: promise me, (looks at parker and hardison) you'll keep them safe.

eliot: till my dying day.

let's take a minute to acknowledge that literally a minute after nate proposes to sophie eliot says THIS??? something reminiscent of marriage vows about parker and hardison? he will protect them until his dying day and not a second before.

and then we have this:

nate: you know, eliot, I'd say call if you need anything, but you never... never need anything.

eliot: yeah, I did. (looks at parker and hardison) and thanks to you, I don't have to search anymore.

parker never had a family, not really, but it's been established that she knows she's not alone, that she has people that care about her, that she is loved (the white rabbit job). hardison had his nana and his family, but we saw at the beginning of the show he was eager to slide into this new found family of his. he cares deeply, loves deeply. and now, at the end of eliot's arc, he admits that all that time, he was missing something. he looks at parker and hardison and states with conviction that he doesn't have to search anymore.

they all have what they were missing at the beginning of the show- each other.

I still can't get over how Eliot and Hardison do their "secret" handshake- even though Eliot is miffed that Hardison ate his sandwhich.

I still can't get over how Parker calls Eliot "Sparky," and he's scared enough to rip open his apple- because he actually thinks Parker somehow got a razor blade in it.

I still can't get over how Eliot tells Hardison that he won't help him if he goes to far with "Ice Man," and when Hardison calls him out on it- Eliot blames Parker.

I still can't get over how Hardison comes to Eliot when he needs help brushing up on wine.

I still can't get over how Parker goes to Eliot when she's looking for something to love and he teaches her to love food.

I still can't get over how Parker is allowed to poke and push Eliot.

I still can't get over how Hardison riles Eliot up and it's just reflex for Eliot to say; "DAMNIT Hardison."

I can't get over how they became a little family all on their own.

Glass Onion Parallels (insp)